LIFE IN FIRST TEMPLE TIMES

Israel, the Northern Kingdom of fertile valleys

sat astride major communication and trading routes linking Egypt
and Mesopotamia. In the 8th century BCE, it was home to no fewer than
350,000 people.

Judah, the Southern Kingdom of arid soil

grew in the shelter of its steep mountains. Judah had only 100,000
inhabitants at the time, but its capital, Jerusalem, was more populous
than Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom.

After the fall of Samaria in 722 BCE, the Kingdom of Judah began
expanding, a development clearly visible today in the remains. The towns
and cities spread and the communities formed a hierarchy, from hamlets to
villages at the foot of the slopes, administrative centres farther up,
and the capital city at the top.

The Kingdom of Judah would also come to an end, however, when Jerusalem
fell to the repeated attacks of the King of Babylon, in 587/6 BCE. But
for the moment, life under the sun was good